Increasing in popularity all over the world by leaps and bounds in recent years, with numerous restaurants popping up in major and even not so major cities in various countries, Vietnamese cuisine is flavorful, colorful, and very healthy. Furthermore, Vietnam is an agricultural country within which there are significant variations depending on the region - north, central and south - where geographical, cultural, and climatic differences reflects in their cuisine. The country has also over the centuries absorbed the influences of neighbors Korea, Japan, and China, along with French and other European cultures to create new dishes as well as new ways of cooking and preparation. Using distinctive incredients include lemongrass, ginger, mint, coriander, cinnamon, chili, soy sauce, oyster sauce, lime, and basil, Vietnamese cuisine tends to be low-fat, low-sugar, and gluten-free, relying on fresh ingredients, mainly vegetables, tubers, fruits, and much less so on meat - very much in line with the healthful food trends of today´s world.
Spices, fresh materials, color mixing, presentation - they´re all used in the same way, in harmony with each other. Hot ingredients must be cooked with cool ingredients to create a balance for the dish. Some of the dishes cannot be combined or eaten at the same time because they aren´t good together - even potentially harmful to health. When preparing dishes, the Vietnamese cook always pays attention to how to combine skillfully sour, spicy, salty, sweet to achieve balance while remaining flavorful.
Popular dishes include phở, a rice noodle soup with aromatic broth, typically served with beef or chicken; bánh mì, a French-style baguette filled with meats, pickled vegetables, and herbs; bún chả, rice vermicelli with minced pork, slices of seasoned pork belly, and fresh herbs and salad greens served in a bowl of fish sauce-based broth; and cơm tấm, fractured rice kernels served with grilled pork, often accompanied by pickled vegetables.
Vietnamese have the habit of preparing the tray, serving several dishes in one meal, different from the Western way of eating, and chopsticks are the main utensils used in eating. In traditional feasts and gatherings, Vietnamese people often gather around the mats or around the tray or dining table, together with a cup of fish sauce, they share the dishes which arranged on the share tray by picking food from the same dish, dipping the food in the same cup of fish sauce. Vietnamese food culture extends beyond simply what is eaten to the concept of hospitality; for example, at family meals they will invite each other to partake in a gesture of care, affection, and cherishing of their loved ones.
And for visitors, one excellent way of entering further into this singular food culture beyond merely enjoying it in restaurants is to take cooking classes, which are offered in many large cities and even some smaller towns.
Vietnamese Coffee and Coffee Culture
Introduced into the central highlands by the French in the 1950s, coffee is immensely popular throughout the country. Along the old streets of Hanoi such as Hang Giay, Hang Buom, Ta Hien, and Luong Ngoc Quyen, as well as many other places in various other cities and towns, you can spot locals and visitors sitting on low stools enjoying coffee throughout the day and night. And beyond its domestic popularity, coffee has become Vietnam´s biggest export after rice, and this small country is now the world´s second largest coffee exporter, after Brazil.
There are at least six distinct varieties of Vietnamese coffee. Many people drink it with sweet condensed milk - either hot or cold with ice. One of the most distinctive variations is egg coffee (cà phê trứng, above), made by beating egg yolks with sugar and condensed milk, then extracting the coffee into the cup, followed by a similar amount of egg cream or egg yolks which are heated and beaten, or whisked - it´s a bit like drinking a coffee-flavored custard cream. Another is yogurt coffee (sữa chua cà phê), where the dark richness of the coffee and sweetness of the condensed milk is given a tangy touch by yogurt.
A travel blogger named Ed Pettitt comment, "I used to enjoy the best coffee in Italy, Turkey, but Vietnamese coffee surprised me the most. It made me sleepless for 20 hours, so the second time I came back to Vietnam, I knew how to drink coffee in a different way. The art of tasting milk is very different, the art is where the milk melts into the coffee, the sound of stirring when stirring the coffee cup also makes me very impressed and will remember forever”.
Vietnamese in general and Hanoians in particular don´t tend to drink coffee from street vendors like in other Southeast Asian countries, or Western-style takeaway, but prefer to sit out on the sidewalk in front of small coffee shops - even perched on uncomfortable-looking stools. In the mornings, older folks - mostly men - will sit, sip, and chat for hours. In the afternoons you´ll find more office workers, while at night the clientele tends toward young couples. Prices depend on location, but average a mere $1 per cup.
One of Hanoi´s - and Vietnam´s - best known coffee shops is Café Giảng, founded in 1946 on Ngyen Huu Huan Street in the old quarter - and the place where egg coffee was invented.
. Nguyen Huu Huan Street,
For tours in Vietnam, please contact Orient Skyline Travel!
E: info@orientskylinetravel.com
T: +84 944 736 638
Web: https://orientskylinetravel.com, https://orientskylinetravel.net
Comments